Sunday, July 11, 2010

Just Drive

Mountains are scary. At least to a Florida girl they are.

We took the "long" way to Morzine on Friday to avoid paying 43 euros to pass through a tunnel that goes straight through Mont Blanc. This way took us through curvy roads with hairpin turns and incredible views.

I thought the hills surrounding Florence were massive. Boy, was I wrong. With each corner we turned, it seemed like the mountaintops were growing.

These are hills on steroids. And that scares the crap out of me. I've been exposed to mountains not even a handful of times in my life, so the steepness and jaggedness still frightens and amazes me.

Here's a couple views from the car:

As we were ascending, Ged noticed the temperature of the engine was rising. We eventually had to stop because a red light came on warning of overheating. Steam was trying to escape out of his hood once we stopped.

He figured that he had put too much water in the radiator that morning, which would explain why water was dripping out of the front of the car:

Ged grabbed a sandwich and we shared some white wine while gazing at the mountains surrounding us.

At the restaurant, I saw this crazy-looking bike with a HUGE crankset and solar panels on the handlebars:

Then this guy hopped on and rode off. What a beautiful/interesting sight!

Shortly after continuing on our journey, we passed large patches of snow just piled on the side of the road. That's right. I said SNOW in 85 degree weather in the middle of July.

Then we left Italy and entered France. No border control.

We reached Morzine close to midnight and drove up the mountain to see what the course was like. Then we set up the tent in a huge field behind an abandoned house in town. Primitive camping at its best.